Poll: Democrats See Double-Digit Increase in Support for Confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's nominee for the US Supreme Court, meets
MANUEL BALCE CENATA/POOL/AFP via Getty
Hannah Knudsen

The percentage of Democrats who believe the Senate should confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court increased by double digits in just a week, a Morning Consult/Politico survey released Wednesday revealed.

The survey, taken October 2-4 among “roughly” 2,000 registered voters, showed support for confirming Barrett to the Supreme Court increasing among Republicans, independents, and Democrats. Democrat support for confirming Barrett jumped to 24 percent — an increase of ten points from the 14 percent who said the same on September 26.

Republican support for confirming Barrett increased by six percentage points, going from 71 percent to 77 percent, and independent support grew from 28 percent to 36 percent.

Overall, a plurality of voters, or 46 percent, believe the Senate should vote to confirm Barrett — a nine-point increase over the course of a week:

Among all voters, the percentage of those who believe the Senate should not vote to confirm Barrett dropped 34 percent to 31 percent. Similarly, the percentage dropped from 59 percent to 52 percent among Democrats and remained steady among independents and Republicans, with 31 percent and 7 percent saying lawmakers should not confirm, respectively.

The shift in opinion comes as Democrat leaders attempt to use the outbreak of Chinese coronavirus within Trump’s administration and among members of Congress — affecting two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — to halt the proceedings. Calling the nomination “reckless,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pleaded that it is simply “too dangerous” to proceed with the hearings, slated to begin next week:

Despite the mounting calls to halt the nomination process, the survey found a plurality of voters expressing the belief that Congress should vote on confirming Barrett “as soon as possible regardless of who wins the election,” jumping from 39 percent to 43 percent. The percentage of those who believe the Senate should only confirm Barrett if Trump wins the election decreased by three points, falling from 40 percent to 37 percent.

Morning Consult reported:

The numbers mark an even larger shift from polling conducted before Barrett’s nomination, when half of voters said the winner of the presidential election should get to pick Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement and 37 percent said Trump should get to make the pick, regardless of the outcome in November. That poll did not mention Barrett’s name.

Even Democratic voters have softened their opposition to Barrett’s confirmation: The latest survey found 59 percent said the Senate should wait to see who wins the election, compared with 79 percent who said in the wake of Ginsburg’s death that the election winner should pick the next justice.

The survey’s margin of error is +/- 2 percent.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) affirmed this week that Barrett’s hearing will begin next week:

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